Torturous Trail of the Torch

The Olympic torch relay is off to an inflamed beginning. The planned route it will take from Greece to Beijing will be marked by the blazing fury of protests from those who oppose China's suppression of Tibetan self-rule and its atrocious human rights record. What the Chinese government hopes to be its coming out party for the world stage may turn out to be a monumental catastrophe for its image. And, where China is concerned, the Olympic flame that waits to be lit in its soil for the first time in its history may end up becoming the funeral pyre for this grand promotional campaign.

In London, the protesters wrestled with the police, attempted to grab the torch, or douse it with a fire extinguisher. Massed crowds tried to swamp the march at some points. Crowds along the route carrying screaming anti-Chinese signs were venting their ire. The Police had the march transfer to a bus just to avoid large groups which could overpower the relay guards. The torch bearer was surrounded by a protective ring of 10 Chinese flame attendants plus hundreds of policemen along the route. About 500 to 2000 protesters were massed on the streets at any one time.

It is ironic that the flame of peace, truth and sportsmanship is being met with hostility and violence, but protesters were unequivocal is saying they were not against the Chinese people nor the Olympics, but at the brutal Chinese regime that rules them. Hundreds of pro-Beijing demonstrators also gathered in Trafalgar, separated by Police from the Pro-Tibetan protesters. Pictures of the London relay were shown in China, but not the protests and disruption that greeted it.

Celebrities and athletes earlier assigned to take part are split on the issue. Some have opted out, others anguish over the decision. That politics threatens to taint the Games anew is the saddest development of this sports event. Calls for boycott will only hurt the athletes and would not make much of a dent in the way that the host decides to rule its constituents. Participation of athletes does not mean they agree nor condone with what the Chinese are doing by way of human rights, but a better platform for such discussions or resolutions should be found, not the Olympics.

In the meantime, clashes have broken out anew in Tibet and the Chinese Military has taken control of the region of Hezuo. Many Tibetans are despondent with Chinese rule and are getting bolder in the conduct and frequency of protests. China claims it fired warning shots to quell a riot but eight bodies were sprawled lifeless. It is this system of information control, disinformation and misinformation that raise doubts about China's sincerity and true intent in all its dealings with the world at large. Blatant lies that cannot even be justified by plausible deniability, which Condoleezza Rice is so good at; can hardly earn them respect and trust. Hosting the Olympics may have been a result of financial clout, but the expected political gains from the event may fall short of target. Skeletons may yet surface along the route of the torch and during the Games itself.

The route would include Paris, San Francisco, and Buenos Aires where fiery protests are also expected. China still has time to salvage its slowly eroding facade that reveals its iron face. It may view holding talks with the Dalai Lama as a capitulation, but it can promote the same as a preference for peace and unity. Pride is the only thing that's holding them back in this scorching issue. The Olympic torch has been lit, let's hope China is not consumed by it in the process.

Haaarrrrwwwwk...Twoooooph...Ting!

Recession Rocks the Republicans

The pained expression on the face of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke when he addressed a Congressional Committee last week spoke volumes about the state of the US economy. The hopeful but cautious forecasts that marked his previous announcements since the collapse of the mortgage markets could no longer be viable as possibly true. When he said that "A recession is possible in the first half of 2008", it was the best phrase he could muster on the subject. He knew, America is already in it.

Lay-offs, the final factor of a deep recession was not on the radar screen of economic statistics since it is normally a lagging indicator; and as long as there are no reports of jobs being slashed, there was hope for a measure of growth. But the Labor Department's release last Friday of 3 consecutive months of job layoffs since January doused all hopes. A total of 232,000 jobs were shed in the first quarter (March - 80,000; February - 76,000; January - 76,000) across several sectors. The unemployment rate, covered by a separate household survey rose to 5.1%, with 434,000 Americans reporting that they were unemployed.

America's longest war (Vietnam) and costliest war (WW II) have been exceeded by the War on Terror. Iraq and Afghanistan has cost the US half a trillion dollars of borrowed money, when 2001 estimates were only at $50 billion. The budget deficit could run up to $350 billion this year including the stimulus package of $160 billion of which only 20% will return to the government by way of taxes. Yet this return will still not pay for the borrowed amount plus interest of the savings lent by other nations. America will have to create more wealth to pay for the war, the deficits, and the stimulus package; but with jobs being slashed and the non-reversal of big business strategy of outsourcing jobs abroad for higher profits - there is little it can do to increase GDP from its present 18%. It may even shrink further. Eighty two percent of what America consumes is imported.

Cuts in interest rates by the Federal Reserve spur the economy, but it is a contributing factor to a weak dollar. Sustaining the wars will drain resources and increase borrowings, further weakening the dollar. Collapse of the mortgage markets have generated losses to financial institutions whose default or deferment of loan payments to foreign banks add to the weakening of the dollar. Unemployment and job loss will generate delinquencies in payments for credit cards, auto loans, educational loans, among others, which are securities held by banks that back up their portfolios. These will also weaken the dollar. A weak dollar will raise the prices of gas, oil, energy, commodities and the 82% of items that America imports. Should Asian and Middle Eastern countries opt to dump the dollar in exchange for the Euro, the American Economy may collapse.

The recent CBS News and New York Times survey point to an increasing disenchantment of Americans with the way the country is being run. The Republicans cannot escape accountability for this one. That Bill Clinton's term should have stopped Osama bin Laden from bringing in 9/11 is a childish argument. They had the means to stop it but they failed. They had the support after, to manage the assault, but they bungled it. They raised fears so that Americans would give up some of their civil liberties, which they abused. They lied about many aspects of the war from the most critical to the most trivial. Now, Americans may be stunned in disbelief, but hopefully not indecision.

If they had a fool for a President, they can at least prove to the world that American citizens are not insane. Unless of course they choose a leader who will pursue a crazy war.

Haaaarrrwwwwk...Twooooooph...Ting!

The Spitter's Seven Stories

For Zhu

http://correresmidestino.com

This is a response to the tag issued by Zhu for the Spitting Vessel to write seven random facts about himself. A similar one was issued to this site's author sometime in January which was published on the 28th of the same month.

Since the facts have not changed as these were personal developments in the life of the Spitter (author of the Spitting Vessel, known as Durano Lawayan), it was not necessary to write a new version but to simply reiterate the previous post. The said post can be found by clicking the link here.

:-)

Are Americans Aware After All?

The American fascination for surveys has taken a dive lately, because of the many "mis-predictions and forecasts" that followed the US presidential primaries. Several political pundits tried to save their reputations by interjecting the word "surprise", "sudden surge", "massive turnout of base supporters" and "phenomenal", to make it appear that the result did not follow a logical mathematical pattern; giving them an excuse for the miscalculation.

Another survey conducted by CBS News and the New York Times released Thursday expressed that more than 81% of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, an increase of 12% from last year's 69%, and shooting up by 46% from 35% in early 2002. Seventy eight percent of respondents also said that the country was worse off than five years ago. The respondents are said to be Democrats, Republicans, Men, Women, urbanites and rural dwellers, college graduates and high school graduates. The survey findings blame government officials for the housing crisis and 53% say they favor government assistance for those with mortgage problems. Sixty six percent believe America is already in recession.

Surveys reflect what people believe based on their perceptions of situations and events. In this particular survey, which has a margin of sampling error of + - 3%, Americans are either pessimistic about their immediate future and are resigned to accept difficulties and live with it; or, they are annoyed at the turn of events and would want to do something about it soonest, to get over the hump and shorten the inconvenience of the current slump. Acting on their beliefs, Americans may resort to conservation, cost cutting, practical and modest consumer spending, and perhaps even saving for tighter days ahead. The survey asked general questions that did not specify what direction America is going into and what direction it should go to. This would perhaps elicit more than a thousand answers, depending on respondents' positions in the political spectrum.

Contrast this survey with another recent poll carried out by the BBC World Service in 34 countries with 17,000 total respondents, which suggest that people who believe America has a positive influence globally increased from 31% a year ago to 35% this year. This is the first time in 3 years that a positive growth in US perception has been registered after 3 successive years of decline. Analysts say that the improved perception is linked to the forthcoming presidential elections. The hope that a new administration will veer away from foreign policies that have been so unpopular in the world mitigates the views of global citizens about the US. Voices other than those of President Bush have been making comments about what the US should be doing, and the world hears these and sees that change may be expected with a new President.

Summing up, Americans are dissatisfied with the direction the US took; the world at large reacted to the unpopular foreign policy of the US with regard to the war in Iraq. The dissatisfaction of Americans may not directly correlate with the Iraq war but both are concerned with directions that have not been acceptable. The world is expecting a change in foreign policy with a new President; Americans want to change or move out of their present domestic predicament.

Are the perceptions of Americans regarding its future leaders running parallel with the rest of the world? Are they aware of the need to make changes? The specific reasons may be different but are the movements leading towards the same direction? Will Americans vote the Democrats into the White House this November? The answer will be in the ballot.

Haaarrrrwwwwk...Twooooooph...Ting!

Throwing Transgenics To The Third World

Transgenic rice or Golden rice, the new miracle variety, will initially feed the poor populations that inhabit the planet and stave of famine, hunger and malnutrition. But, in the medium term, it will solve these same problems by reducing the consuming populations with deaths due to cancer and severe malnutrition caused by famine.

The rice variety is being hyped as useful in treating a number of disorders such as growth deficiency in children, insulin resistant diabetes, osteoporosis, and AIDS, because of its capability to produce a type of protein, human insulin growth factor (hIGF). Another variety is modified with the presence of Beta carotene that will produce Vitamin A which will prevent blindness due to vitamin deficient diets. Both varieties are being promoted with yields promised at 35% above those of other rice crops. However, these miracle plants are laboratory produced solutions in the absence of an ecological approach, organic contexts, and cultural traditions; by an engineering mindset geared towards an input -output orientation of a mass production mentality.

The protein hIGF is a synthetic form of human gene altered in DNA sequence, where the protein activity was tested using an assay that promotes the growth of brain cancer cells. The protein in the rice will thus induce the growth of brain cancer among consumers. The other variety that is manipulated with beta carotene is a single nutrient approach toward a nutrition related public health problem. This is neither feasible nor desirable.The different kinds of fruits and vegetables in traditional diets people consume provide a better uptake of beta carotene. Besides, beta carotene is fat and oil soluble, and the poor have no capacity to buy food rich in these elements. The beta carotene in the rice variety will therefore pass undigested and the poor will have only the starch, which will put their already precarious health situation in greater jeopardy.

For thousands of years, local land raised rice varieties in Asia have evolved that satisfy the need for sustainability and diversity based on local soil and climate conditions. Harvested rice is wrapped in husk that preserves the endosperm for long periods of storage. Once milled, the brown embryo covering the seed contains the beta carotene and other micro nutrients needed by the human body. Unfortunately, the cultural tradition of brown rice is that it is inelegant and of lower quality, fit only for the very poor. Rice that's polished white is the preferred choice even if it is stripped of all nutritious elements. In this context, promoting the benefits of traditional diverse diets in conjunction with brown rice is a much better option than the one dimensional solution of Golden rice.

It is unrealistic to think that the introduction of a manipulated plant will produce carotene on demand. Changing one element of the complex balance in a ecological setting within an organism changes everything, which can affect a plant's vitality. Carotene is produced throughout the rice plant except the endosperm or seed. What impact will there be if an element is forced upon the plant which it has consistently avoided for thousands of years? What is produced? What is not produced? What are the changed balances among substances normally produced? Would not the excess characteristic implanted in the seed affect in some way the nourishment and growth of the germinating plant? Organisms are not machines that can be altered in a precise and pre-determined method.

Field tests conducted have proven that transgenic rice spreads the transgenes and contaminates conventional rice crops. Once established, the transgenes are difficult, if not impossible to eliminate. This development may wipe out local rice varieties, leaving only mutated transgenic rice for cultivation. A similar scenario transpired during the 60's and 70's Green Revolution. High yielding varieties were introduced for self sufficiency that were heavily dependent on herbicides and pesticides, chemicals that ruined the soil's nutrients and destroyed the bio-diversity of the land farmers tilled. Farmers who were left with debts, no seeds of local variety to plant, no new crops planted because of the chemicals employed; had to sell their lands, and were consequently displaced and penniless.

This transgenic rice is touted as stronger against drought and pests and will not generate herbicide resistant pests. But it has been proven that local varieties in different parts of Asia are more pest and drought resistant than these laboratory counterparts, given their respective ecological settings. The point is, it is an experimental product that may not be suited for the different ecological conditions in various parts of Asia, even within a single country. Therefore, it will be subjected to modifications. Would these modifications, say by cross germination with local varieties, produce the claimed results. This is highly unlikely. That there will be changes is definite, as to what kind of change it will be is unknown. Is this a risk they are willing to take for the billions of people that will be affected?

Moving forward with transgenic rice despite research studies that debunk its claims and details the dangers inherent therein is a murderous initiative. It is a mindless political ploy that seeks to ease a current crisis which will generate a major calamity in the future for someone else to solve. It is a decision akin to Adolph Hitler's "final solution", where the problem of famine, hunger, and malnutrition will be solved by eliminating the poor that burdens the state. This is "War on Poverty" that will feed the poor one full meal before they are unceremoniously exterminated. What will they feed the world next, Soylent Green?

Haaaarrrrrwwwk...Twoooooph...Ting!

Sources: Independent Science Panel, Rice With Human Genes: Pharming in California
The Weston A Price Foundation, Golden Genes and World Hunger
Institute of Science in Society,Cancer Promoting Transgenic Rice
Grain, BB Rice, IRRI's First Transgenic Field Test

Camels as Cultural Cradles

In the tradition of the Bedouin tribes that inhabited the deserts of the Middle East, the camel is being elevated as the representation of the values that thrived among the nomadic peoples of the sands of Arabia. The patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that gave such activities importance and significance; and the social relationships and practices which embedded such activity and structures, were disseminated through the backs of the "ship of the desert" - the camel.

This culture and its inculcation among the youth of Arab states, is at the core of the International Camel Beauty Pageant. This year, 10,000 camels will be participating in the richest and biggest event of its kind in honor of the underrated animal that connects to the Arabian past; and the preservation of values that would be the foundation which will carry them to the future. The Abu Dhabi event boasts of $9 million prizes plus 100 cars up for grabs. Shiny toes, curled eyelashes, and shapely humps are not the main criteria for judging, which is difficult enough as it is. A panel of experts will choose the best camel for each age group. The camel must have a pedigree, free from contagious diseases, and no serious defects. This event is part of the Mazayin Dhafra Festival.

The camel is a central figure in the Arab culture, and was once the measure of wealth along with horses and falcons. The Emirates rulers see the preservation of their national identity through the animal that was essential to their survival before the oil era. It is part of their roots as a race, and would want the youth and future generations to respect and honor that identity; together with the honor codes that were part of that culture.

These codes include the Ird for women and the Sharaf for men. A woman is born with her Ird intact. It is an emotional and conceptual rule (like honor and respect) where a violation can make her lose her Ird and never regain the same. Sharaf involves protection of the Ird of women in the family, protection of property, and maintenance of the tribe's honor. Diyafa (hospitality) is a virtue that is also provided to the enemy like shelter and food for some days. Poverty does not excuse one of this practice. Generosity is a related virtue that includes gift offerings which cannot be refused. The poor are looked after by the community and tithing is mandatory. Hamasa (courage/bravery) is the willingness to defend the tribe for the purpose of assahiya (tribal solidarity and balance). It is related to muruwa (manliness). Bravery entails the ability to withstand pain.

These honor codes have been passed on by the Bedouin tribes for centuries and have united the families for generations. It has kept their culture intact and their relationships closely bound. The oil era and the wealth that was created in its path have caused the tribes to settle in communities and cities, to facilitate the delivery of social services and to encourage professional development. Regardless of the number of luxury custom made vehicles they might own, their respect for the camel, their tradition and their culture remains of equal importance as any material acquisition they may ever make. Wisely, this is a legacy they would not want to forget.

Now, let's take a look at those gorgeous camels and see if the judges get to hug and kiss the winners.

Haaarrrrwwwwk...Twooooooph...Ting!

What Women Want

This is an old story. The situation may have changed somewhat but the motivations and predispositions remain the same. Some may have read this story before or have heard it mentioned in some casual conversation, but a retelling may rekindle the importance of its message and the significance of its impact. Men especially are confused as to what women really want. This would enlighten their minds.

King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom. He could have been killed but the monarch was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. The monarch offered him freedom as long as he could answer a very difficult question. He was given a full year to find the answer, and after such time, if he didn't have it, he would be put to death. The question was: What do women really want? Such a question would perplex the most knowledgeable man and it seemed like an impossible query. But he agreed as it was better than death.

Upon his return, Arthur polled everyone in the kingdom, the wise men, ministers, priests, jesters, prostitutes; but none could give a satisfactory answer. He was advised to ask the "Old Witch" who certainly was the only one who knew the answer. But she was notorious for charging an exorbitantly high price. The last day arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but her price was to be married to Sir Gawain, the most notable of the Round Table Knights and Arthur's closest friend. Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, and made obscene noises. He had never encountered such a repugnant creature and refused to have his friend endure such a burden.

Gawain, upon learning of the proposal, told Arthur that nothing was too big a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the preservation of the Round Table. Thus, their wedding was proclaimed and the witch gave the answer: "What a woman really wants is to be in charge of her own life".

Everyone instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth. The neighboring monarch gave Arthur his freedom. What a wedding Gawain and the witch had. Arthur was torn between anguish and relief. Gawain was proper and courteous, but the witch put on her worst behavior and made everyone feel uncomfortable. The hour approached, and as Gawain steeled himself for a horrendous experience, he was astounded by the sight that greeted him at the bedroom. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him. The beautiful woman interrupted his thoughts and said that since he had been so kind to her as a witch, she would be her horrible deformed self half the time henceforth; and the other half, she would be the beautiful maiden herself. She then asked a cruel question: Which would you want me to be in the daytime? At nighttime, it would be the other half.

Gawain pondered his predicament. During the day a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, while at night, in the privacy of his home, an ugly witch? Or would it be better to have a hideous witch during the day, while at night have a beautiful woman to share intimate moments with? Noble Gawain replied that he would let her choose for herself. Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time, because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life!

The moral of this story is: If a woman doesn't get her way, things can get ugly.

Harrrrwwwwk...Twoooooph...Ting!